leprechaun: [17] Leprechaun means literally ‘little body’. It comes from an Irish compound noun made up of the adjective lu ‘little’ and corp ‘body’ (a borrowing from Latin corpus). Its original Old Irish form was luchorpán, and in modern Irish this became leipracán. The first record of its use in English is in Thomas Middleton’s Honest whore 1604: ‘a(chǎn)s for your Irish lubrican, that spirit whom by preposterous charms thy lust hath rais’d in a wrong circle’. => corpse
leprechaun (n.)
c. 1600, from Irish lupracan, metathesis of Old Irish luchorpan literally "a very small body," from lu "little" (from PIE *legwh- "having little weight;" see light (adj.)) + corpan, diminutive of corp "body," from Latin corpus "body" (see corporeal). Commonly spelled lubrican in 17c. English. Leithbragan is Irish folk etymology, from leith "half" + brog "brogue," because the spirit was "supposed to be always employed in making or mending a single shoe."
雙語例句
1. The when persuaded with burning iron the leprechaun revealed his treasure trove.
通過一些灼熱的鐵棍的“勸說”,他告訴了你他的秘密寶藏的地點.
來自互聯(lián)網(wǎng)
2. At Notre Dame, the mascot is a little creature of Irish imagination, a leprechaun.
在圣母瑪利亞隊, 吉祥物是一個愛爾蘭小妖精.
來自互聯(lián)網(wǎng)
3. She's got that fey look as though she's had breakfast with a leprechaun ( Dorothy Burnham )